The Case Against Ryan
In his New York Times blog, Ross Douthat describes his "basic skepticism about the pick." A neat summary of the reason so many liberals have been giving each other high-fives--and why even a conservative such as Ross himself feels queasy:
This is a game-changer, of a sort: Romney has been running a cautious, content-free campaign, and picking Ryan will effectively force him to become much more substantive on policy, while giving the country the clearest possible choice heading into November. But setting up a clash of worldviews doesn’t address Romney’s most glaring policy weakness, which is the (understandable) fear among hard-strapped voters that Republican policies will benefit the rich more than the middle class. Ryan’s association with entitlement reform is at best orthogonal to that weakness, and at worst it exacerbates it substantially. What’s more, by picking him Romney may have passed up a golden opportunity to take advantage of the Obama campaign’s leftward tack over the last year: Instead of making a sustained play for the center of the country, he’s chosen to raise the ideological stakes.
This will make the race more exciting and more serious, and I’m looking forward to watching it play out. But I don’t think it’s made a Romney victory more likely.
Precisely by making the race more exciting and serious, I myself believe, Ryan will indeed make a Romney victory more likely. But I grant that the case Ross makes here is entirely plausible.
We shall see.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: The Case Against Ryan
Joseph Eagar
I've always wondered why we struggle with this. We just need to point out that the wealthy voted for Obama in 2008. Why would we give them "giveaways" after that? Republicans worship entrepreneurs, not the wealthy--who, in general, hold no love for the free market and are more comfortable with Democrats anyway.
Exactly so, Joseph. We take their spin, accept it and then try to adjust is slightly to point out minor errors -- when the whole assertion is false.
Jun '10
Re: The Case Against Ryan
This is such a great question. I really want to know the answer to this. If he did indeed vote for Obama then that perfectly explains why the NYT picked him up.
Mar '12
Re: The Case Against Ryan
Western: It is so disappointing to me that the Ricochetti are attacking the messenger rather than the message. I don't care if Douthat writes for the actual Pravda, he must be debated on the merits of his argument.
Actually one of the joys of life is bashing the messenger. Not keen on the message? Find the person who brought it and let him/her know exactly that. You _____. (I am being compliant with the CoC.) You _____!! You mindless ______ who writes for Pravda on the Hudson, you.
Take a deep breath.
Doesn't that feel better?
Whose next? (I am not referring to a music album by the Who.)